AARP is an interest group in the United States that focuses on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. I worked within the ICM (Integrated Communication and Marketing) Department. A professor of mine shared the link to the Publication Design Intern position and along with the application, he connected me to another professor who actually works at the company as a designer who I was able to reach out to with my materials and exchange a few emails.
For the most part I worked with the Associate Art Director. Though she was more of my day-to-day supervisor, I worked with several people on different projects. I worked with the Assistant Art Director with The Ethel Newsletter’s social media posts. I was also specifically tasked with designing the International Women’s History Month campaign. There is another newsletter by AARP called the Veteren’s Report for which I was asked to design bi-weekly covers of the stories featured. Additionally, I was trained in the software used by the company to work on the publication and eventually tasked to design some small spreads and sidebars. Lastly, I worked on “sizzle reels'' which are essentially quick motion graphics that introduce the upcoming issue.
I am quite proud of the newsletter reels as I did have to quite quickly learn their brand identities and be able to depict them accurately to an audience base that is different from what I am used to. Additionally, I feel as though I was quite proactive in asking for more work through the duration of the internship which I did in the hopes of leaving a positive impact and impression on the team.
My biggest takeaway was how strenuous, fast-paced and collaborative the publication process is from conceptualizing to print. I also learned a lot about working in a large corporate setting with a hierarchy of positions to report to and get approvals from.
I have learned several new skills through this including practical ones like new softwares, and also other skills like time management and organization required to multitask. This has helped clarify my career goals as I definitely still hope to work in editorial/publishing. It was earlier simply an interest, but now I have experienced it in a very real setting at a company that is extremely established. Instead of deterring me, I only feel more excited to hopefully step into it in the future.
